What to do when your husband's overseas on business for a couple of weeks, you need a little boost, and you have a relatively empty weekend calendar, a brother & sister to visit, hotel points to use, and a gorgeous weather forecast in the northeast? 

Take a spur-of-the-moment road trip. A 24-hour energizer. 

John's Pizzeria.
Last-minute, cheap Phantom of the Opera tickets.
Listening to RadioLab, helping Sam learn his lines, laughing together in the car.
Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Macy's, and the rest of the city decked out for Christmas.
City walking, walking, walking. 
NY Public Library.
Exploring Wired magazine's awesome pop-up store (with an amazingly high quality photo booth!). 
Meeting Chris for brunch.
Watching Harry Potter on tv in the hotel. 
Good talks and (after the kids fell asleep) nice quiet thinking in the car on the way home. 

It was just the thing.

Those 24 hours will fuel my next 24 days.

p.s. Miss you, G. Miss you, Lauren. Come home soon!